DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Ryan Lochte has started his bid for eight gold medals at the short-course world championships by setting a meet record in the 200-meter freestyle heats.
The American touched in 1 minute, 42.38 seconds in Wednesday's heat - that's almost a full second better than the previous record set by retired Australian great Ian Thorpe in 1999.
Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia qualified second, a slim 0.03 seconds behind, and Nikita Lobintsev of Russia placed third, 0.21 back.
Paul Biedermann, the German who holds the world record of 1:39.27, set last year, was fourth, 0.35 behind Lochte.
In the opening evening session, Lochte will swim the 200 free final plus the 400 free relay.